In recent decades, the genre of ‘memoir’ has proliferated to the point that it seems nearly every family can point to a relative who has written one or is in the process of writing one. A memoir, not to be confused with an autobiography, is a snapshot, or series of snapshots from an individual’s life. The memoir blends both accounts of past events with thought and reflection. It is meant to offer a picture of how an individual has become themselves. Memoirs are meant to preserve memory rather than fact, and while the line between the two is thin and grey, it exists. Historically, memoirs were private works that could be used to help craft more complete works in the future, but today memoirs exist on their own as complete works.

But I’m not here to lecture you on memoirs, other writers will be much better at that than me…